St Mary’s, Leith rc primary School iPad Use Policy The iPad in the classroom

St Mary’s, Leith RC Primary School

The iPad in the classroom brings education to life. Children have endless access to valuable information such as a dictionary and thesaurus, which previously were only available in printed format. Interactive technology makes learning more engaging and memorable. Tools such as audio and video recorders can change the way that learning takes place.

The use of apps and gaming techniques in the classroom can aid understanding of complex concepts and the development of science, technology, engineering and maths skills (STEM). According to the Department for Education, two of the largest studies in the UK looking at ICT’s impact on attainment have found there are statistically significant positive relationships between the use of ICT and achievement in these core areas.

Technology is seen as increasing children’s’ confidence and motivation by making learning more enjoyable. A pupil’s attitude and involvement in learning changes as it is considered as fun.

The ability to confidently use technology in the 21^st century is a necessary skill in most workplaces. Using digital tools on a daily basis in school further develops the learners’ abilities to use the technology they are likely to encounter in their future careers.

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  Each class will have 4 iPads which may be assigned to a Collaborative Learning group.
  
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  The iPads remain in the classroom, with the teacher and pupils responsible for their safe storage, charging and ‘housekeeping’; ensuring the iPads do not contain too many files, photos, movies, which use up memory and to ensure that folders are organised etc.
  
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  Pupils will be allowed to access the iPads when they need them and are encouraged to come up with creative ideas for using them.
  
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  Staff and pupils may source apps which are of use to the class.
  
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  Apps can only be installed on the class iPads after approval by SLT. The administrator will install the app on the selected iPads. This includes free apps.
  

stations. Content specific apps could be used to reinforce a particular concept i.e. times tables or content creation apps could be used to display learning.

Also, where some pupils may be creating paper-based responses to work, one or more groups could use content creation apps (Explain Everything) as an alternative.

• Use Adobe Voice, Puppet Pals or Comic Life to re-tell key events in a story

• Use Adobe Voice, iMovie etc. to record a book review.

• Use Comic Life to take photographs and make a comic book story.

• Use iMovie to create a news report summarising the key points of a non-fiction text

• Use trailers in iMovie to portray the key points of a given text

• Use Book Creator to create an interactive version of the book that has been read

• Use GarageBand to create a piece of music to represent the theme of a book

• Use VoiceThread to record, assess and record progress of fluency in younger readers

• Use Morpho to promote storytelling, encourage and assess fluency in reluctant readers and explore characterisation

• Have older pupils use Explain Everything, Book Creator or Adobe Voice to give tips to younger readers about key reading/spelling rules

• Use Explain Everything to photograph writing. Peer assess in pairs using features in the app and provide feedback using the voice recorder

• Use Explain Everything to allow pupils to create video tutorials about key words and concepts for writing such as grammar, tips for spelling etc. use these videos for supporting groups in writing

• Use Popplet (Lite) for story planning, character development, assessment of key concepts in writing

• Use apps to support the writing process such as Clicker, dictionaries, thesauruses and so on

• Use animation apps to demonstrate learning in any area!

• Use Explain Everything to create videos which allow pupils to show their understanding of processes

• Have pupils create videos of the key concepts and terminology within SEAL, share these with parents via the school website to support learning at home

• Use the many apps specifically designed to teach and reinforce concepts in maths for small groups (Math Bingo, Math Magic).